LAS VEGAS — The immigration reform plan President Barack Obama outlined Tuesday sounds a lot like the new bipartisan proposal from the Senate — and on the broad points, it is.

But the differences are in the details. And those details, with the liberal stamp Obama put on his approach here, could be the difference between a deal and another failed effort on an issue that Washington has struggled with for years.

Obama’s speech launched a campaign for legislation built on several overarching principles: provide a path to citizenship for the country’s approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants, streamline legal immigration, crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers and strengthen border security.

That’s all in the blueprint offered Monday by a group of eight senators, led by Republican John McCain and Democrat Chuck Schumer.

Senior administration officials said the contrasts and omissions aren’t red lines for the president. But they do foreshadow the points of tension in the upcoming legislative negotiations.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle is a trigger for citizenship that Republicans such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio describe as a must-have.

Obama wouldn’t make citizenship for undocumented immigrants contingent upon a declaration that the U.S.-Mexico border has been secured. And he highlighted that difference with the Senate plan in his speech Tuesday, saying “it must be clear from the outset that there is a pathway to citizenship.”

The president didn’t explicitly endorse the need for a temporary worker program, as he did in his 2011 immigration blueprint. The Senate proposal would set up a process for American companies to hire low-skilled labor under certain circumstances — a concept that’s divided labor and business — but the White House doesn’t view such a program as essential, given the current economic conditions.

Obama also didn’t embrace a proposal from the Senate group that would set up an expedited citizenship process for agricultural workers who commit to working in the industry.

And although he didn’t mention it in his speech, his plan explicitly includes protections for gay couples. Unlike the Senate blueprint, Obama’s plan “treats same-sex families as families by giving U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents the ability to seek a visa on the basis of a permanent relationship with a same-sex partner.”

Obama praised the work of the bipartisan group of senators, but said that if the Senate did not act on it, he would send his own bill to Congress for an up or down vote.

“It’s important for us to recognize that the foundation for bipartisan action is already in place,” Obama said. “If Congress is unable to act in a timely fashion, I will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away.”

Obama presented immigration reform much as he has spoken about gun control — as an issue long debated and discussed with solutions a majority of the American people already support. Citing the failed 2007 immigration reform effort that had the support of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and former President George W. Bush, Obama said that the hurdle isn’t bipartisan agreement — it’s getting Congress to act.

“The president is going to play the outside game and the bipartisan group of senators will play the inside game,” said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist strategy group. “Part of playing the outside game is rallying support behind a plan, but tempering the expectations of activists because nobody will get everything they want in a final package.”

Framing the question of immigration reform as one that’s fundamentally about the economy, fairness, building the middle class and the American dream, Obama’s speech drew on the familiar theme of local individuals who have succeeded because of his policies — proof, he argued, of what could be done with bigger, broader legislation. He singled out a Nevada man who took advantage of his 2012 executive order for students brought to the United States illegally as children, noting that the man is now pursuing a pre-medical degree at a local junior college.

“This is not just a debate about policy,” Obama said. “It’s about people. It’s about men and women and young people who want nothing more than their chance to earn their way into the American system. Throughout our history, that has only made our nation stronger.”

While acknowledging that the undocumented have either entered the country illegally or overstayed a visa, Obama cast them as sympathetic figures working in a “shadow economy” who often go unpaid for their work — which Obama said drags down the whole economy and hurts all workers.

“Right now, we have 11 million undocumented immigrants in America,” Obama said. “They are contributing members of the community. They are looking out for their families, they are looking out for their neighbors. They are woven into the fabric of our lives. Every day, like the rest of us, they go out and try to earn a living. Often they do that in the shadow economy, a place where employers pay them less than the minimum wage or maybe make them work overtime without extra pay. And when that happens, it’s not just bad for them, it’s bad for the entire economy.”

Top union officials, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, watched from the front row.

“I believe we are finally at a moment where comprehensive immigration reform is within our grasp. The closer we get, the more emotional this debate is going to become,” Obama said. “When we talk about that in the abstract, it’s easy sometimes for the discussion to take on a feeling of ‘us versus them.’ When that happens, a lot of folks forget that most of us used to be them. It’s really important for us to remember our history. Unless you are one of the first Americans, a native American, you came from someplace else.”

The line drew a standing ovation.

Obama’s event at a high school gymnasium here had the feeling of his campaign rallies, with the largely Hispanic crowd breaking into chants of “Sí, se puede” upon his call for passing immigration reform.

Obama’s visit here kicks off what aides have said will be a robust road show to promote his second-term agenda. After watching Republicans successfully demonize health care reform as it became bogged down in congressional negotiations, the second-term Obama is planning to tour the country to tout his immigration and gun control packages.

It also comes a day after the bipartisan group of eight senators — including GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida — announced their immigration reform framework. The move briefly stole some of Obama’s thunder, though much of their proposal mirrors what Obama proposed in 2011.

McCain expressed cautious optimism following Obama’s speech.

“I appreciate the president’s support for our bipartisan effort on comprehensive immigration reform. While there are some differences in our approaches to this issue, we share the belief that any reform must recognize America as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants,” McCain said. “The road ahead will be not be easy, but I am cautiously optimistic that working together, we can find common ground and move forward on this vitally important issue.”

Obama said he’s encouraged by movement in the Senate on immigration and took ownership of much of what was proposed.

“For the first time in many years, Republicans and Democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together,” he said. “Members of both parties, in both chambers, are actively working on a solution. And yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators announced their principles for comprehensive immigration reform, which are very much in line with the principles I’ve proposed and campaigned on for the last few years. At this moment, it looks like there’s a genuine desire to get this done soon. And that’s very encouraging.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) expects the Senate to act before taking up any immigration legislation in the House. But Tuesday, he called for the president to find a moderate position before moving forward.

“There are a lot of ideas about how best to fix our broken immigration system,” Boehner said. “Any solution should be a bipartisan one, and we hope the president is careful not to drag the debate to the left and ultimately disrupt the difficult work that is ahead in the House and Senate.”